Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Ridiculous!

So this morning I was a healthy human being. At lunch time I was a healthy human being. Around 3pm I started to sneeze...by 4pm I couldn't breathe, move around the house without the constant companionship of tissues, swallow, taste anything, think without cotton wool impeding my braing...etc etc. Normally, I find that I get some warning at the start of a cold. A sense of fuzziness, a bit of bunged up-ness, a tickly throat. Breaking me in slowly over a 12-24 hour period. Not a thirty minutes heads up you're going to be incapacitated... I took antihistamines in case it was hayfever which would be more reasonable for the rapid onset but no. I can only hope that this means it will disappear as rapidly as it started.
I have however been enjoying making use of the old wives remedy of "feed a cold, starve a fever".
As I haven't any brain, I shall stop there and not yet tell you about the lovely Christmas we had but it was grand and everyone was great and I managed to actually not be homesick at all once Christmas day got underway. Hope you all had likewise lovely Christmas times.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Parcels, presents, product placement...

I've been attempting to write a post for a few days now but failing miserably. Not wholly because of lack of time, mostly because of lack of time when I've also been in posession of my brain!
So just a quick one then to say thank you to all of you who have sent us cards and so on. Has been lovely to have that flurry of both post that isn't bills/junk and of communication with home! And what is even better is that we know of at least three things that haven't made it in time for Christmas so the flurry will continue for a little while yet. :)
And to wish you all a lovely Christmas and hope you have a marvellous time with whoever you spend it with. We are looking forward to speaking to various family members during the course of the day (and friends during the course of the week...book your skype time now!) and spending the evening with some friends and their family here. We've been more than a little busy of late (in a work-related way) and Christmas day/Boxing day is probably the best chance at some down time we've got.
The best thing about a southern hemisphere Christmas is that all our traditions are gone; we have no sense of feeling Christmassy so we can actually focus on the reason Christmas exists a little more easily. :)
Lots and lots of love to you
xxx

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Lyrics

At the moment, there are two songs that I listen to a reasonable amount to which I cannot force the correct words to stay in my head. If I really, really think about it I can make myself sing the right words but if I'm just merrily driving along with the CD playing, I cannot, cannot sing the right words!
The first song is Valerie by the Zutons. The problem comes with the line "Well since I've come on home, my bodies been a mess. And I miss your ginger hair and the way you like to dress". Left to my own devices, I would sing "Well since I've come on home, my bodies been a mess. And I miss your ginger hair and the way you like to kiss". Why?! It doesn't rhyme! It doesn't make more sense! The strange thing is, Husbink also, entirely separately had this problem when he first came across the song. Anyone else?
The second song is Say Hello to the Pope by James Dean Bradfield. The title is in fact the line I have the problem with. See, I bought the album only knowing one song on it and just listened to the album a number of times through without reading the back and getting to grips with song titles. So I was getting quite confused as to put this particular song was about as the only words I thought I could pick out were "Say, who ordered the punch?" I thought it must be a song about the dangers of date rape drugs or something. Ahem.
There have been and will continue to be a great number of songs that I have similar problems with I imagine. Somehow, it makes me feel rather old and uncool...

Thursday, December 14, 2006

How old am I?

Yesterday I was driving to the costume shop to organise the wise men, Mary, Joseph, the angel's wings and Herod's crown for the Christmas production at church. As I reached the end of the high street I became aware of the thud thud thud that accompanies boy racers with extra bass and giant speakers... It kept coming with me but I couldn't spy an appropriate car at all. It eventually was hurting my head so much that I shut the windows but it just got louder. By this point it was so loud that my car was shaking! As we've been having some car problems recently I was a little alarmed and thought perhaps it wasn't a barry-boy but instead was something very peculiarly wrong with my car. I was just approaching a big roundabout and feeling really quite scared cos the car was shaking and I didn't know what was going on and it was the kind of sound that was so inside your head that I was feeling disoriented and sick...when the culprit drove past me. (It was a really stupid looking car and not particularly racery at all but that is by the by). The car said on the back "If its to loud u r to old" (sic). I actually sat at the roundabout a few seconds longer than necessary letting it get away. And deciding that I quite liked my eardrums so was quite happy to be too old...
On the way home from said costume shop, I went to Pak 'n' Save to grab a few bits. And saw some outrageously cheap wine so thought I'd grab it while I was there. I reached the checkout and the girl was quite young so when she picked up the phone after putting the alcohol through I wasn't surprised. She then asked me to step to the side so that her supervisor could see me. I did. The supervisor looked skeptical. The checkout girl asked for ID. I gave her my UK photo driving licence. She said into the phone what ID I'd given her and the supervisor decided she had to come over. She looked at my licence and asked if I had my passport on me. Which I didn't. They looked back and forth between me, the ID and each other, clearly getting a little anxious. So I put them out of their misery and said I'd just take the chocolate and in-shower Veet (which is another story, very impressed, very smooth legs!) and not worry about the wine as it was a whim anyway.
And that was all fine. Until I was driving away and realised that they were attempting to claim that I looked 17. Or younger. Which just isn't believable really. Really.
The obvious conclusion to draw from this being that 17 is now too old...ahem.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Me. Apparently!

Quite handy this having been tagged thing (so actually I am grateful Welsherella!) as I was fancying a little burble but I'm way to shattered to actually think of anything. I gather it is meant to be one word answers. I'll try my best but no promises...

1. Yourself: loopy
2. Your girlfriend/boyfriend: Husbink
3. Your hair?: ridiculously soft these days
4. Your mother?: organised
5. Your Father?: funny
6. Your Favorite Item: new jeans
7. Your dream last night: no idea...
8. Your Favorite drink: gewurztraminer
9. Your Dream Car: I no longer know...but little and cute
10. The Room You Are In: bedroom
12. Your fear: vomit
13. What you want to be in 10 years: happy
14. Who you hung out with last night?: Husbink...and half of church
15. What You're Not?: relaxed
16. Muffins: mincemeat (so that needs explaining...after church yesterday they had made muffins with mincemeat stirred in to the mixture. SOOOOOO yummy!)
17: One of Your Wish List Items: a purpose
18: Time: 16:17
19. The Last Thing You Did: lost very badly at uno
20. What You Are Wearing: denim skirt, pink tshirt
21. Your Favorite Weather: proper weather (i.e. beautiful or a proper storm or snow or thunder & lightening or...)
22. Your Favorite Book: Too hard (LotR was there for so long but...it would have to be a comfort book - LotR, Angry Housewives Eating Bonbons, Cold Comfort Farm, Winter Holiday, The Lion, The With & The Wardrobe, HP 1-3 (the later ones aren't comforting!!!), the Thursday Next series or the Fourth Bear - The Big Over-easy less so... ok, too much!)
23. The Last Thing You Ate: Orange & Passionfruit cereal bar (pretty gross)
24. Your Life: improving
25. Your Mood: too tired to be sure
26. Your body: peculiar
27. Who are you thinking about right now? people
29. What are you doing at the moment?: this...and considering what form of laziness my afternoon will take
30. Your summer: just starting
31. Best part of your life: adventures!

So to tag...I pick Mad Medea and Jenny

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Pamperage

Yesterday, I was gifted a half day all to myself that I wasn't really expecting. I was due to be at my temp job yesterday and today but when I got there yesterday morning it became apparent that I only had half a day's worth of work and that no more would appear until today when various people were back in the office. So I left at midday and came home.
I read my book. I spent some time with God. I did some Pilates. I watched some bad telly. I sorted more pics to email to everyone (let me know if you didn't get them and want them). I did some "gentle" tidying so I could feel noble without really having done anything at all. It was fantabulous. I almost felt relaxed for a while!
Things have been a little insane here the last few weeks and I have been slightly told off by a few people in the kind of "I thought this was meant to be a year out" sort of way... I think by having plunged into a few too many things in the last few weeks it has indicated to me that I still need some time out to take care of me. But I still coped with the last few weeks much better than I would have done previously. Which is exciting!
Today was another semi-gifted afternoon but I felt I should make a bit more use of this one so have been trying to write a sermon for Sunday. I had been all prepared to say "I do really short sermons, allow less time for me than the average person" but I'm not so sure that is going to be true this time! I'm quite nervous about it (no kidding...) because I've only ever spoken at St Matthias before now. I did a testimony on Sunday morning so along with having led two services I've at least got an idea what it is like to stand up in front of this church (though I'm speaking at the evening service and all previous experience has been of the morning services). Eek. Generally. Yes. :)
So anyway, cos I got to be all relaxed yesterday and looked at lots of photos, I thought I'd just put up a couple of pics that I like from the last four months or so. So that's what the decoration is. :) (Husbink does not understand why I found Trees of Mystery quite so funny...hey ho, I guess it is like the Cardigan Arms. Or "Britney Spears, says survery". Or I'm just odd.)

Friday, December 01, 2006

It's Over

Movember is over! Thank goodness!
"What is Movember?" I hear you cry!
Well, the Pom may have heard about it (I hope the Boy doesn't get involved in it...) as it started in Australia but I had never heard about it before this year...
Movember is a charity that raises awareness of men's health issues, mostly prostate cancer. And it works by a group of men (colleagues, friends, whatever) all agreeing to not shave their moustaches for the entire of November. They have to keep their chins shaved (so that it is definitely a moustache) but they can then do whatever they like...They can be sponsored but much of the point is just that they look awful so that people ask them what they think they're doing.
Husbink's work decided they would participate in Movember this year and much as I am supportive of the cause, I am so relieved it is over! I have asked his permission so here is a picture...

This was following a late shift on November 30th and the longest the Mo' managed to get. It was like Christmas come early to arrive home on Friday lunch time following my last supervision session to find the moustache gone! Ah, the relief...I am no longer considering divorce...